Title: Reposition candidacy to qualify for career change

Content:

Dear Sam: I am 43 years old with 20 years of work experience in sales, management, customer service, and business ownership. I recently returned to school and graduated with a finance degree last year. I am beginning my job search in the finance sector and am wondering if I should list my entire job history as I have done in the past. My résumé is in chronological form. What would be your suggestion? - Tracey

Dear Tracey: Congratulations on your recent graduation! To answer your question, no, you would likely not want to list your entire 20-year career on your résumé. As I imagine you are going to need to position your candidacy at a more junior level-as you don't have finance experience in your background-presenting 20 years of work experience would only make you seem overqualified and too expensive. Instead, present your most recent experience, maybe 7-10 years, and utilize your coursework and any class projects to infuse your résumé with finance keywords. Depending on the abundance, or lack thereof, of projects to present, you could even consider adding a section to your résumé with your academic experiences and highlights. Doing so would allow you to fully explore the finance knowledge you have, add those ever so important keywords to your résumé, and push less related experiences further down on page one of your résumé. When presenting earlier, non-finance experience, be sure to market the transferability of those positions so the experience "qualifies" you and doesn't "disqualify" you for your current career objective. Best of luck.

Dear Sam: I'm really struggling to see why my résumés aren't effective. I have spent time explaining what I did at each job, highlighting accomplishments, and still I don't get a response. I even developed multiple versions with different objectives noted. Help! - Rachel

Dear Rachel: I noticed that your résumés do not contain qualifications summaries, and instead use very valuable real estate at the top of page one presenting an objective statement. Defining your purpose or objective is critically important to the development of this section, but instead of simply stating your objective, this section, along with everything on your résumé, should be developed to sell yourself for the type(s) of roles you are seeking. Develop this section based on a primary objective, presenting a brief summary of your key qualifiers related to your objective. Engage the reader or screener by performing due diligence to understand the keywords for the position(s) of interest, and infuse those keywords throughout this summary and the remainder of your résumé. I know that most candidates struggle with this section; it is, after all, the most difficult part of a résumé to write. As a tip, start writing your résumé from the bottom up, beginning with the easier sections and leading to the summary. Write the summary last so that you have a clear picture of what you have to offer your target audience. After I write a résumé, I typically have several key points from a client's background that I remember as being most important or impressive, and this guides the development of the summary. Writing this section immediately after creating your résumé also helps as your background, qualifications, education, etc. are very fresh in your mind. If you are still struggling with this section, check out books from the library, samples on my website, or ask a friend / family member to help you identify your key offerings and value.

Dear Sam: How important is it to try and create a "different-looking" résumé? I ask because when I was showing my résumé to a coworker who is being laid off at the same time I am in January, his résumé looked exactly like mine. I guess we selected the same template. Our experience is somewhat similar, so I'm scared if an employer receives both of our résumés, he/she will think we plagiarized one another. Should I create something that looks different? - Tom

Dear Tom: One of the major downfalls I see when reviewing résumés is that the majority lack any visual appeal, they are typically created using very common templates, and they are inconsistent in their use of fonts and spacing. While content is very important in creating a résumé that grabs the attention of a hiring manager, the aesthetics of that document can compel or repel someone's interest. For that reason, it is imperative to engage the reader through the use of a professional and visually appealing layout. I'd highly recommend creating a different "look" to your résumé to ensure it stands out, not only because of the accomplishment-oriented content, but the great design.

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Do you have a question for Dear Sam? Write to dearsam@semissourian.com. Samantha Nolan owns Ladybug Design, a résumé writing and interview coaching firm. For more information, call (888) 9-LADYBUG (888-952-3928) or visit www.ladybug-design.com.

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